Belkin Switch-to-Mac Cable automatically switches you to Mac, gives you a high-five

PC-to-Mac USB file-transfer cables and migration utilities have been out for a while, but Belkin's out today with a new take on the idea it says makes the transition "as seamless as possible." We're guessing that has more to do with the Switch-to-Mac Cable's bundled software than the dongle itself -- Belkin's custom Migration Assistant (not the OS X assistant) automatically transfers your media, files, and internet prefs, leaving you free to try on mock turtlenecks and practice your air of quiet superiority. Should be out soon for $50.

[ZaxCG2 @ Nov 12th 2008 5:10PM]

That's great... or you could NOT spend 50$ and use Dropbox...
If you don't mind waiting for files to upload to the web that is.

I actually might be interested if the transfer rate is high.

[lowdef @ Nov 12th 2008 7:04PM]

or use a firewire cable

[mabhatter @ Nov 13th 2008 12:54AM]

what's a fire wire cable? My new Macbook doesn't have one. (and my PC is too cheap for gigabyte Ethernet)

[Saltypoison @ Nov 12th 2008 5:11PM]

Poor PC probably feels violated :(

[John @ Nov 12th 2008 5:14PM]

Why'd you do that for?!

[i1patrick @ Nov 12th 2008 5:14PM]

After the transfer is complete, the device does a low-level reformat of the PC's hard-drive to make SURE the switchover to Mac is complete.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 12th 2008 7:09PM]

... and then sends a surge into the USB controller in an attempt to fry the mobo?

[iEye @ Nov 12th 2008 5:17PM]

Or I could use a cheap USB drive and do the file transfer myself... without shite software....

Boy, Belkin constantly puts out seriously overpriced pieces of wire... at least make on side of the wire black...

[Abuzar Baloach @ Nov 12th 2008 5:24PM]

Funny you should talk about overpriced...

[Kevlar @ Nov 12th 2008 6:07PM]

Belkin does make some expensive tech accessories, but from the one that I own, the quality is good, and they function as advertisied. That said, I only own a pair of headphones, and while the cost was rather excessive ($39), they are the only pair I could find that had a built-in iPhone button/mic, as well as decent frequency range and a fabric coated cable to prevent tangling. In my eyes (ears?) it was a well-spent $39.

As a bonus, they make me look like a mentally unbalanced person talking to myself on the bus, so I always get left alone :P

[XIYL @ Nov 12th 2008 7:03PM]

The only thing you don't want to buy from Belkin is the FM Transmitters. Every one I've seen has stopped working in some ungodly short amount of time. I've even seen one die before the battery in it was spent.

[JeffEd @ Nov 13th 2008 12:32AM]

I would also second that Belkin makes nice stuff. While you could do it with an external drive, you will still likely need to use some software. And which to use? The average user (probably Belkin's target, right?) will use Time Machine, but it's still buggy. I imagine, and hope, that Belkin's cable and software is designed to fix that very problem. And if it does do that? If it does transfer everything in an easier and more reliable and efficient/faster way than Time Machine? It's worth the $50.
For sure.
My two cents anyway. I still like Belkin.

[Patriks7 @ Nov 13th 2008 2:07AM]

Well think of it this way.. Belkin is the Apple of cables..
I don't think I've ever seen nice cables as those from Belkin.. there's always some design to them..

[kojo87 @ Nov 12th 2008 5:18PM]

and this is better than portable hard drive why?

[ZaxCG2 @ Nov 12th 2008 10:30PM]

Probably because it's cheaper than a 250GB+ drive (give or take). If we're talking tiny amounts of data though it would seem rather overpriced.

[Kelmon @ Nov 13th 2008 5:15AM]

Well, specifically it is better for the task because it will be faster and automate the migration process. OS X has a utility for migrating data from an old Mac to a new Mac via a Firewire connection so this cable effectively does the same thing. This said, the external hard drive has the major plus point of being reusable whereas this cable might only ever be used once. Chances are that it won't provide software to migrate from a Mac back to a PC, should you feel inclined to do so in the future.

[Jason @ Nov 12th 2008 5:20PM]

epic sigh..

[KeegdnaB @ Nov 12th 2008 5:21PM]

The $50 price tag makes sure you are getting nothing less than what you would expect from your transistion to Mac

[captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Nov 12th 2008 6:16PM]

over priced pretty crap?

[captain underpants and the bringdown gang @ Nov 12th 2008 6:18PM]

oh and I am a mac guy... so don't call me a troll.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 12th 2008 7:10PM]

$40 of the price is for that weird plastic Belkin tag thingy on the cable.

[Lars @ Nov 12th 2008 8:13PM]

LOL, too true. The $50 price tag is just a primer of what's to come in the world of Apple.

Oh and "air of quiet superiority" should be changed to "air of obnoxious and snooty false-superiority". JK fanboys!

I've always had Macs and other PC's, because I just love gadgets and computers... but I've always been dissapointed with Apple's products. Too much eye candy, not enough functionality, and way too high of a price tag. I remember I had one of the first Apple digital cameras (took horrible pictures but hey, like I said, I love gadgets!), that thing cost thousands of dollars and was less useful than a Polaroid.

[joe23521 @ Nov 12th 2008 5:23PM]

Can you use this between two PCs or is this strictly heterOSexual?

[Sam @ Nov 12th 2008 5:28PM]

i see what you did there

[HOOPER @ Nov 15th 2008 1:22PM]

more like heterOSeXual

[kal326 @ Nov 12th 2008 5:23PM]

That doesn't appear to hold all that much Kool-Aid, so I don't see how exactly it makes the switch complete.

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 12th 2008 5:45PM]

It has high potency levels. A little goes a long way.

[stobbsm @ Nov 12th 2008 5:29PM]

This would be great for getting my office to switch to Macs. Every PC we have is down for service at least once a week.

To do any real work, I have to boot off my pendrive into Ubuntu, where I have not had a single crash yet.

[KIFF @ Nov 12th 2008 5:32PM]

Maybe your office needs to hire a proper IT manager.

[Reader @ Nov 12th 2008 6:01PM]

Also, everyone should swear to stop looking at porn while at work.

[EricC @ Nov 12th 2008 7:51PM]

This is the year 2008. Everyone knows why PCs crash. Saying, "My PC crashes all the time" is the same as saying, "I'm a flipping moron that can't figure out how to NOT break shit."

My company took a hard stance against people breaking their PCs after the CIO had a study done on the amount of money wasted annually on fixing problems caused by stupidity. The stance was: if you break it, you're at the bottom of the priority list and your computer WILL NOT BE FIXED until nothing else needs fixing. If you miss deadlines, etc. because your PC is down, you could very well be terminated.

Oddly enough, only a couple of people had to be let go before everyone realized they were serious. We don't have people breaking their PCs anymore. Fancy that.

[Andy TGD @ Nov 13th 2008 12:36PM]

"If you miss deadlines, etc. because your PC is down, you could very well be terminated."

Is this Skynet's definition of terminated? Sounds a bit harsh to me...

[EricC @ Nov 13th 2008 9:13PM]

Not harsh at all, Andy. It's not difficult to not break your PC. It's even easier to not break it when using it in a business environment. In fact, I'd go so far as to say it's damned near impossible to break your PC in a business environment without doing it on purpose.

So, given the numerous agreements signed upon employment that you won't engage in activities that would break your PC, I think it's actually quite lenient of them to wait until deadlines are missed because someone broke their own PC, and IT was too busy fixing real problems to undo your idiocy.

If a UPS driver took a knife and slashed the tires on his truck, and subsequently couldn't make his deliveries on time, how long do you think he'd remain employed by UPS?

[Chris @ Nov 12th 2008 5:31PM]

So I could spend $50 and use this or just go to the apple store and have them to it for free.

[Andrew T. @ Nov 12th 2008 6:35PM]

Forgot about the Genius Bar being able to do that, but isn't it only free if you're eligible for support (within the first year of purchasing the Mac or have AppleCare)?

[Jon @ Nov 12th 2008 7:05PM]

My closest Apple Store is 150 miles away...
and having to finance a tank of gas nowadays doesn't make me want to run to the snotty teenager behind the Genius Bar desk and have him treat me as "A PC guy"
spend $75 in gas, or $60 for a dongle.
That was easy.

[lowdef @ Nov 12th 2008 7:21PM]

yep because gas prices are just SKYROCKETING now aren't they ???

not...

[dontfeedtheninja @ Nov 12th 2008 11:02PM]

Haha and it's my job to do that at the apple store...

You'd be surprised how many times shit just will not network correctly lol

[Chris @ Nov 12th 2008 5:31PM]

For $50 you can get an 80 gig hard drive which would get more use then this cable...

[Boards of Canada @ Nov 12th 2008 7:53PM]

I cant connect my 500gb external pc formated drive on my ibook with OS 10.3.9... and the ibook will not read dvd either. Thats a pain in the ass for me sometimes. The only way to communicate is with a usb key.

[CraigJ @ Nov 12th 2008 11:12PM]

In Windows Explorer.
Right click on C
Check share this folder on the network

In OS X Finder
Drag files from shared folder to wherever you want them

Done..

Of course, I generally store everything on my Ubuntu server and hit it via Samba.

[ethana2 @ Nov 12th 2008 5:36PM]

Why would you have to move files between machines just to swi- ohhhhhhh

That's right, OSX doesn't have hardware support worth crap. Almost forgot about that.

[Zak @ Nov 12th 2008 6:30PM]

Yes, because this is the only possible way to transfer files to a Mac from a PC.

What are you, an idiot?

[ethana2 @ Nov 12th 2008 6:32PM]

I'd assume you could do it wirelessly, with removable media, removable hard drives perhaps...

OSX Just Works with NTFS, right?

[Zak @ Nov 12th 2008 6:34PM]

Of course it does. Again, what are you, an idiot?

[ethana2 @ Nov 12th 2008 6:42PM]

When I switched operating systems, I didn't move frick. I left everything where it was and just bookmarked the old locations.
Perhaps I should have chosen a more clear way of expressing my frustration here, let me state it this way.

You shouldn't have to get a new machine to get a decent OS, ergo, you shouldn't have to move files between machines to switch in the first place. I tried to get kalyway to work on my Dell in a dual boot, and it failed miserably; I have come to the conclusion that instead of selling pretty hardware, Apple should be forced by anti-monopoly regulations to either license their OS to third parties without restrictions, or cease to sell it within the United States in any form at all.

Their OS is decent (by way of being posix compliant), but my hate for Apple will not die until either the company does, or they get their heads out of their butts with our without government assistance.

[Zak @ Nov 12th 2008 6:52PM]

You're obviously unclear on the definition of "monopoly". It's not possible for to make Apple do anything under anti-monopoly regulations, because Apple doesn't have a monopoly on anything. I'm not sure why this is such a difficult concept for you to wrap your head around. Is Apple preventing competition in the computer marketplace? No? Then there's no monopoly. It is that simple. Period. Done. For god's sake, buy a clue.

The fact that you are so ignorant about OS X that you didn't know it has SMB built into the OS and can speak to any Windows machine natively speaks volumes. You're a tool. And now you're trying to tell me that really your problem is that you want to run OS X on any machine you want.

Boo freakin' hoo. That is not a failing of OS X, that's a failing of your ability to understand why Apple is not going to license OS X. And of course none of this has anything to do with your original post, which was ignorant to the point of being laughable.

In conclusion, cry more.

[ethana2 @ Nov 12th 2008 7:05PM]

Aside from the fact that basic network shares and the ability to read NTFS partitions are two different things, I'd only be crying if I actually /bought/ a mac. As it stands, I'm loving my Dell but would like to be able to consider OSX a competitor in the open operating system market, and won't purchase an Apple product until I can. Due to the fact that the only emotion I've personally known text to accurately and consistently convey is anger, I'm not going to follow this comment up beyond this point.

[UnixSystemsEngineer @ Nov 12th 2008 7:14PM]

Wait, you want to FORCE Apple to give up their intellectual property on terms you dictate to them? You know, rather than producing a product, setting a price and terms, and letting people decide if it is worth their money?

Sounds sorta fascist.

[Zak @ Nov 12th 2008 7:16PM]

Oh for FUCK'S SAKE. Yes OS X can read NTFS. Yes, OS X can use SMB natively. Happy now? Or should I keep going? You realize I wouldn't have to tell you this if you had the slightest clue about what OS X can do, right?

First you said this:

"I'd only be crying if I actually /bought/ a mac."

Then you said THIS:

"would like to be able to consider OSX a competitor in the open operating system market, and won't purchase an Apple product until I can."

You see that last sentence? That is called CRYING. I won't buy an Apple product until they do what I say, waah waah WAAH. You still don't appear to understand that licensing the OS would undermine the company so badly that it would go out of business. Not surprising, as you have shown yourself to be nothing but staggeringly ignorant on the topic of Macs. Did you know that Apple already licensed out the OS once? No of course you didn't, what am I saying? I keep forgetting you're an ignorant tool.

The only reason you would be crying if you bought a Mac is because you're very possibly too stupid to use one. And believe me, that is really saying something.